Bilal Lone seeks people’s support after hinting at mainstream political entry

As the Hurriyat has now become defunct owing to the pressure by authorities, Bilal appears to have taken the route which his younger brother and People’s Conference president Sajad Lone took in 2009

Bilal Gani Lone, a long-time associate of Mirwaiz Umar Farooq-led Hurriyat Conference, has sought a chance from people, after he dropped indications of entering mainstream politics.

Bilal Gani Lone. (File)

“You should provide (me) one chance. Only death should spare me. I won’t claim (to perform) 100% but if only I will be able to perform even 30% and you will remember that this was better for us ,” he told his supporters in Handwara during a gathering.

As the Hurriyat has now become defunct owing to the pressure by authorities, Bilal appears to have taken the route which his younger brother and People’s Conference president Sajad Lone took in 2009. Sajad and Bilal are sons of late separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, who was assassinated in 2002. While Bilal was long associated with Mirwaiz led Hurriyat Conference before it became inactive after the crackdown post constitutional changes in 2019 in J&K, Sajad was also a separatist formerly and switched sides in 2009 and joined pro-India politics by fighting Parliamentary elections, a first separatist to do so in Kashmir after militancy erupted in the valley in 1989. He later started his party-PC.

His entry into politics will make the political scenario interesting in North Kashmir where his brother Sajad Lone, an MLA, is trying to get a foothold for his party, and Engineer Rashid led AIP is increasing its influence. PC won Sajad Lone’s Handwara seat in the 2024 assembly elections while also losing four seats by narrow margins in north Kashmir. North is still dominated by ruling National Conference with 11 of 16 total MLAs including three in Kupwara-Handwara belt.

However, Bilal was silent on his shift from separatist to mainstream politics but insisted people of his age deceived the community.

“My wish is to bring forth local heroes from the new generation in every village. They should get out of that (old) political system and carve out their own path. I came here to seek a chance, to understand the ground situation and new people. We don’t have to touch old people/issues... We have to start from zero,” he said.

Bilal had also come out in support of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti last month after she was criticised for her remark at CJP protest. Bilal denied that he was joining any party soon saying that he was shifting gears from passive politics to active politics.

“I have been in politics for the past 24 years. The only difference is that I was in passive politics earlier and now I am in active politics,” he told a local news portal. “Neither am I going anywhere (to any party) nor have I received any offer. But in politics, options remain open,” he said, stressing, “There is still time.”

He was unhappy over his brother Sajad Lone’s verbal duel with the PDP and targeting of PDP founder Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. “We should not talk about people who have left this world. This is beyond our scope,” he said.

Bilal said that neither he nor Sajad should claim to carry forward their father’s political legacy. “Lone sb had his political career and his legacy and ultimately people will decide. We can follow his political legacy but we should not exploit him politically,” he said.